Japan's House (aka Place to Bother Japan)

That tempura stuff smelled delicious!

Of course, it could just be because he was already hungry (starving, was more like it!), but even looking at the tempura that was sitting out of the oil to cool looked so tempting!

Feliciano reached up on his tip toes, looking for the bowls he had spotted earlier while he was rummaging for ingredients; after a few failed attempts he eventually found them, sitting them out. "Ve, I want to eat, I want to eat~ Do you think we can eat them now Kiku, should I put the soup in bowls?"

Japan watched the Italian and found himself to be slightly amused by his eagerness, but didn't change his expression.

"We can eat it now, yes," he answered. "It's best if we eat it while it's still hot."

He brought the finished tempura over to the counter and rested it down. Then went back to clean up his cooking space. "You can put the soup in if you want," he called to Italy as he went. "Then we put the tempura over it as a topping."

He noticed that Pochi was asleep in Germany's arms, and found the sight...strangely...cute. And that was not a word he usually associated with the German at all.

He imagined Germany would not appreciate the thought, either.

He went to cleaning up.

Ludwig had to admit that he was hungry too. He glanced through the hallway and spotted the basket of the little dog in the corner and carefully placed the animal onto the fluffy blanket in the basket so it could keep sleeping.

"The food smells good." Ludwig remarked calm. He could call himself lucky to have Allys who were known as having the best cooking skills all over the world. The blond washed his hands briefly on the sink and then glanced over Kiku's shoulder into the pot. "I hope you didn't add to much salt. You know that to much salt is not good for your health."

The Italian couldn't stop himself from drooling, bouncing exictedly on his toes when Kiku finally said the words he had been waiting for; it was almost time to eat! He couldn't wait! And hopefully all his work hadn't gone to waste!

Feliciano immediately started to ladle the soup out into the bowls, taking extra care not to spill the broth everywhere (he was sure with both Kiku and Ludwig there, he would get an extra big scolding if he made a mess!). Ah, it smelled so good; he couldn't wait to eat it!

"Ve, Grazie, Ludwig~" He looked back as the German walked back into the room, smiling brightly at him. "Ah, but I didn't add that much salt, I don't think! At least not anything extra! The soy sauce was salty enough!"

The bright brunet carefully added the tempura on top of the the bowls brimming with noodles, smiling and admiring his work. It really looked too good, he wanted to dig in right now! "Kiku, Kiku, can we eat now? I'm hungry, ve! And it looks so good! Do we need some drinks? Where should we sit?"

Japan flinched a bit when Germany mentioned the salt. He had bad memories of the last time the German had tried to modify his diet. He was suddenly glad that he hadn't made the udon himself.

And he was grateful to Italy. "Thank you, Feliciano-kun," he said and bowed his head a bit. "And yes, we can eat. ...We had tea already...but then you were...I could warm the remainder of that up, or we could have something else, if you'd like. We could sit either here in the kitchen, at the table," he indicated the small western-style table in the room, "or we could go back in the living room with the kotatsu."

He took a breath, finding it a bit vocally tiresome to answer all of Italy's questions.

"We can stay here in the kitchen." Ludwig's answer was short and simple. He preferred a Western style table over a Japanese one. At least to eat.
Taking a seat by the table he turned towards his older friend. "I'd rather have a cold drink with the meal please." He already had tea earlier in the living room and now he felt like something fresh. A hot tea with a hot meal didn't fit in Ludwig's opinion.

The soup smelled good, and even if Japanese food was really different to German dish, the blond knew that the meal would be as good as a meal can be when it is made by two of the best cooks in the world.

"Ve, a cold drink would be nice too, since the broth is hot! But I wanna try that tea someday!" Feliciano hoped his tongue could handle the soup...it would really be a shame if he couldn't taste any of it when it looked so tasty!

The Italian pondered drinks for a moment, tilting his head back and forth, hand on his chin. "Hmm~ What about Kiku's sake? I would say wine, but udon is your food, so maybe we should drink your drinks, too!" Besides, sake was pretty good! He didn't drink it much, but it certainly tasted delicious every time he came for a visit!

He nodded at the German's answer, smiling bringtly. "We can stay in the kitchen, then! I think the table will be fine, ve!" The Italian made an attempt to move the bowls over to the table, but learned very quickly that the ceramic bowls were extremely HOT. As soon as he placed his hands around one, he let go, waving his hands and hissing in pain. "V-Veee! T-They're hot, they're really hot!"

Feliciano blew on his injured hands; hot things really didn't like him today!

Japan nodded at the German as he chose the kitchen table. That would be fine. Perhaps they'd had enough of the kotatsu today, really.

Now, as for drinks... "Something cold? That's fine." He listened to Italy's suggestion of sake and thought for a bit. While he was thinking, Feliciano managed to burn himself once again, albeit completely differently.

"You must be careful, Feliciano-kun!" Japan called out. "Do you want ice? Or to run cold water over them?" He came over and carefully placed the bowls on plates that could be handled more easily without that happening again.

The thought of the drinks temporarily left his mind with his current concern.

---

Blah. I'm kind of in between my old way of just using the country names in narration and my new way of using the human names like pretty much everyone else around here. It makes me feel like it's a bit awkward...bleh.

Anyways, I was thinking of suggesting plum wine, as I personally like it, and I don't like a lot of achohols. My friend had...I think maybe it was Fuki plum wine? idk, it was good.

But perhaps we should ask Ludwig what he wants?

Ludwig frowned and crossed his arms in front of his chest. Wasn't sake supposed to be served hot? Or at least warm? The blond had just suggested a cold drink. And plum wine remembered Ludwig of the cheap Chinese restaurants and snack-bars you could find all in Berlin or every bigger citiy around Germany.

He jumped up out of reflex once Feliciano burned his hands again. Pushing the smaller Italian over to the sink he turned on the cold water and held Feliciano's hands under the spray to cool the burning mark so it wouldn't become a painful scar.

"Kiku... Do you have, by any chance, beer?" Ludwig didn't know if drinking beer along with the meals was common in Japan, but he send a hopeful glance into Kiku's direction while he kept taking care of Feliciano's hands.
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Lolol, Of course Ludwig wants beer. :'D
Why even asking? -is so IC- =w=b

Feliciano winced and whined as the the cold water hit his scalded hands, faces twisted in a pout and eyes brimming with tears. Kiku's house was really out to get him! Maybe next time he should call Kiku before visiting so maybe he could get his house to behave or something!

"V-Ve...I-I want to try some of Kiku's sake, though! Since I didn't get to try the tea! I wanna try something!" Ludwig drank too much beer! He didn't mind the taste sometime, but wine was much better! Beer was too...bland. Too much body to it, not enough flavor! Wine was much more fruity, tart, interesting! And sake was kinda like wine, right? Well, at least they both were made with fruit sometime!

He pulled his hands out from under the water, the water too cold and making the feeling leave his hands. The Italian blew on them again for good measure, looking toward Kiku with just as much (or more) hope as Ludwig did.

---

It's okay, I don't really mind either way of using human names or country names or a combination of both. =w=b

Kiku looked between his two friends. Ludwig wanted beer, he should have suspected that, although he wondered if he had anything that would suit the German's taste.

He opened the fridge. "I have Sapporo," he announced, "if you want, Ludwig-san....it's beer." He then paused for a moment. "I also have umeshu...plum wine...if you want to try that, Feliciano-kun. ...We don't all have to have the same thing."

He waited for the two to reply and looked at Feliciano's hands, trying to figure out how badly he'd burned them.

---

^.^

Ludwig took a kitchen towel from next to the sink and carefully dried off Feliciano's hands, keeping his focus on Kiku. Sapporo? The blond had never heard of that before. He was used to drink German beer. It was the best kind anyways. But he could not expect Kiku to have German beer here when he didn't knew Ludwig was coming over. So he had to go with Japanese beer. It would go for just one meal.

"I am fine with that." Ludwig folded the towel neatly and put it back into its place of belonging after he finished drying off Feliciano's hands. "Seems I get a few new tastes to try out today." The blond took a seat on the chair he was sitting on earlier and glanced at the bowls of soup.

Feliciano let the Asian and the German fuss over him, sniffling at his situation. Why did he just keep getting hurt today?

He gave his fingers a tentative flex, wincing slightly. It didn't seem that bad...of course, he was a cook, he had burnt himself before--but that didn't make it hurt any less every time it happened!

"I wanna try the plum wine! It sounds good!" He tried to brighten his mood a bit, starting to drown out his pain with thoughts of food. "What will Kiku have? Wine or beer?" The Italian looked over to the bowls of soup, trying to devise a plan to get them to the table without burning himself again. He really wanted to try the noodles he made (almost) all by himself!

---

:U I have burned myself so many times at work it's not even funny anymore.

Kiku grabbed a glass and one of the beers for the German and set them on the table. "I hope it will be alright," he told him.

He was honestly a bit nervous. After all, Ludwig always had his own beer, and Kiku wondered what he would think of the beer they made here in his own Japan. He tried not to worry about it as he got a couple more glasses and a bottle and set those down as well.

"I will have the umeshu, Feliciano-kun," he answered his Italian friend. "I haven't had any for some time."

Then he looked at the Italian's hands again. "Why don't I handle the food now?" he offered.

---

I believe I put plates under the bowls a few posts ago? Or something. But perhaps it's best if Feli just sits down now, anyways. ^.~

For a moment long the tall German ignored the other two man. His focus was now fully on the beer in front of him. It didn't have much foam and it was darker then the beer he was used to drink but Ludwig was willing to give it a try and so he poured himself a glass full of the Japanese beer.

He took the glass and held it up to let the light shine through the golden liquid. It didn't look bad actually... Just unfamiliar. Ludwig moved the beer closer to his nose so he could get a good taste of its flavor before really drinking from it. The smell was spicy, different to what he was used to, but still not bad at all.

Then he took a careful sip and his eyebrows shoot up in surprise. This beer was really good! Of course not as good as German beer, no beer in the whole wide world could be better then his own, but still almost as good. Hopefully there was more of this beer in the house.
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Beer fetish much? :'D
*is making up shit about Japanese beer, because she has no idea about it at all* .__.;

Feliciano looked over to his friend, voice breaking him from his thoughts. "Ah, really, Kiku? That would be really great, I don't want to burn myself again!" The Italian gave a shudder, giving the bowls a final, weary glance before joining Ludwig over by the table, plopping down in one of the seats.

But his drive to be helpful still remained, almost immediately jumping back to his feet and grabbing the wine. Drinks were cold, so at least he couldn't burn himself again! "Ve~ Then I'll pour mine and your drink, Kiku!"

The Italian tilted his head at the bottle for a moment, marveling at the screw cap for a moment before shrugging it off and unscrewing the bottle, pouring it into the two glasses, finding himself more and more excited to try it. This day was getting more enjoyable by the second!

Kiku nodded to the excitable Italian and safely carried the bowls to the kitchen table, careful not to touch them directly, using plates and cloth.

He noticed Ludwig seemed happy with the beer, and that was a relief. It seemed a bit silly to be worrying over something as minor as beer, but when Ludwig was involved, it wasn't silly at all.

He paused for a moment. "Would the two of you like western utensils?" he asked them, unsure.

---

I know nothing about Japanese beer either, but that's in part due to the fact that I don't really know anything about beer. Other than some basic stuff that doesn't involve tasting it or knowing anything about specific beers.

Ludwig snapped out of his fascination for the beer once Kiku's words addressed him and the soup was set down in front of him.
"Oh, yes please." The tall blond put his beer down and licked a little bit of the remaining foam from the corner of his lips.
"I know how to eat with chopsticks, but for soup I'd prefer a spoon."

Ludwig actually thoughts that the Japanese way to eat was a pain in the ass. It took long and was difficult. His hands were not made to handle something fragile as chopsticks. It were the rough hands of a worker, a mechanic and soldier. Not a patient and content who'd cut his food first to later eat it with chopsticks.

He wanted a fork, a knife and a spoon to eat with.

"Western utensils? Oh! Si, si! I want to use them!" When it came to cooking and painting, the Italian's hands could be nibble, but when it came to eating...well, especially with soup, chopsticks were really hard! The noodles were too slippery, and sometimes they would fall from the chopsticks before he could eat them! He was sure he could use them if he concentrated...but he wanted to concentrate on the flavor! And possibly not burning himself again.

Feliciano bounced back to his seat, plopping down and (carefully!) pulling a bowl closer to him, mouth watering at the thought of getting to eat the delicious noodles and tempura he and Kiku had just made! He took a sip of the wine as he waited for Kiku to get the utensils--It was a little more sweet than he was used to his wines tasting, but it still had a strange kick to it; the Italian took another sip, almost fascinated by it.

"Ah, but Ludwig, Kiku!" He put down his wine, smiling at each one of them. "Since we're all together, we should do something! It's been a long time since we all got together for fun!" The Italian nodded sagely, crossing his arms. "Ah, after we eat, of course!"

Kiku was a bit uncertain about the spoon, but retrieved it as requested. However, he also brought a fork, just in case. He also gave Feliciano the same, as he hadn't specified. After he had gotten the utensils for his guests, he removed his own chopsticks from his case.

He paused in his actions for a moment. "...Do something?" He wondered, almost fearfully, what the Italian might have in mind.

But for now, food was in front of him. "Itadakimasu," he said.

---

From personal experience of not having my chopsticks on me, I find the handle of a spoon to be more helpful with these kinds of noodles than the spoon itself. A fork is decent.

Ludwig plain ignored Feliciano's comment about 'doing something'. They were doing something, right? They were eating together. And the other thing they could do together was cleaning up the mess in Ludwig's office. But the blond would rather see Feliciano doing that all by himself.

He took the spoon from Kiku with a nod as sign that he was thankful for it. The fork was left ignored like the Italian.

The first scoop of soup smelled spicy and Ludwig blew over it to cool it down. He didn't want to burn his tongue. The blond sipped carefully form the spoon, aware of the fact that Japanese food was mostly very spicy. Compared to western food. Though, even if a bit of spicy taste tickled on his tongue, this soups didn't seem to hot.
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German's are used to eat soup with a spoon.
Our soups are mostly very mushy, containing different kind of beans and cut up Wurst. Nothing you need a fork for.
And even if there might be bigger parts in the soup like potatoes, they are cooked good enough to be cut with the side of the spoon. :3

As soon as the utensils were handed to him, the Italian immediately began shoveling the soup into his mouth, slurping the noodles with happy chirps of approval. The undo was good, really good--and he could actually taste it, even with his burnt tongue! That thought alone spurred the cheerful brunet on, flavor flooding his senses as he ate with more vigor than before, if it was possible to do so.

"Ve, these are really good! Grazie for helping me, Kiku!" Feliciano spoke between slurps, voice muffled by the food in his mouth. He scooped up some tempura and took a bite, humming in delight at the taste. It was truly delicious, even if a bit salty for his tastes; he would have to make these noodles more often! He still preferred his pasta, but it wouldn't hurt to have some of this once in a while! Maybe he should ask Kiku for more recipes, he was sure the smaller man wouldn't mind!

The supply of noodles in the Italian's bowl was severely depleted in a mere matter of minutes, which let the brunet's mind wander back to other matters.

The spoon left his hand for the first time since the massacre of the noodles had begun, turning his focus back to his friends. Feliciano took a quick sip of his wine, clearing his throat. "But, Ludwig, Kiku! We should really do something! Like maybe play a game, or just talk, or go for a walk, ve! It would be fun!"

Kiku picked up some of the udon with his chopsticks and delivered it to his mouth. It was good. Feliciano had done a fine job. "You're welcome, Feliciano-kun. You made it well," Kiku told him and smiled a bit.

He was a bit amazed though, but not at the food. He hadn't thought it really possible to eat the noodles using a spoon, but then the Europeans knew their utensils better than he did. He made a mental note about this.

The Italian finished in record time and started on again about doing something. Kiku said nothing, uncertain. He put more food in his mouth in order to make his silence more acceptable. His gaze turned to the German. What would he say?

---

*totally didn't think of cutting it with the spoon* The simplest things whiz right by my head sometimes.

I suppose if you're used to eating things one way it sticks. This applies to both why I didn't understand how to eat it with a spoon, and why you would do what you did. Sort of. Either that, or I'm using it as an excuse for not realizing something like that.

Ludwig silently ate the bullion first. More drinking it until only the noodles and tempura was left. Then he paused and turned his attention back to the other man he was sharing this meal with. Feliciano was again rambling about doing something together.

"Taking a walk doesn't sound bad." A thoughtful frown appeared onto Ludwig's forehead as the thought about this option of sharing time with the others.
"In Germany we say: 'After food you should rest or do thousand steps.' So a walk sound logical to me. After we finished this meal." He turned his head slightly into Kiku's direction. "And the weather outside seems to be nice too."
Ludwig didn't turn his focus away from the smaller man while he lifted his bowl and slurped some of the noodles into his mouth and ate them. He wanted Kiku's opinion on this. It was his place after all.
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'Nach dem Essen sollst du ruhen, oder Tausend Schritte tun.'

Feliciano almost bounced out of his seat when someone finally showed interest in his ideas. It wasn't as fun as playing games, he supposed, but walks could be nice, too! And they could all catch up on things while they walked, so it would be extra nice! He reached over to tug at the German's sleeve as his smile only grew brighter. "That's a funny saying, but it would still be fun! And the weather is really nice, so that's why we should go!"

Feliciano turned his head to the Japanese man as well, body still bouncing and squirming. "And I haven't visited in so long, Kiku! I wanna see all the things around here, your place is always so nice~"